Turning Tables is a Marvel Cinematic Universe fanfic written by IAmAllYetNotAtAll.
Thanos knows if he leaves Tony Stark alive, that Earth's mightiest defender will find a way to undo all of his hard work. So when he snaps and wipes away half the universe, he ensures that Tony Stark is one of those that fade to nothing.
I.E - a what-if series of ficlets where Tony is dusted and Peter isn't.
This fanfic can be read on Archive of Our Own here
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This fanfic provides examples of:
- Ambiguously Gay: Harry asks Peter is he wants to join him out for a college party. Gwen then tells Peter that he basically just asked him out.
- Ascended Fridge Horror: If the massive spike in orphans cause by the Blip wasn't bad enough, in Chapter 59, Peter mentions that there were babies that starved to death in their cribs before anyone would find them.
- Berserk Button: In Chapter 27, Peter loses it when he overhears someone call Pepper a gold-digger and Morgan a bastard.
- Big Brother Instinct: Peter was adopted by Pepper during the early stages of pregnancy and has been there for them since the moment Morgan was born, having been there for nearly every important stage in her developing young life. This causes him to become equal parts doting older brother and the closest thing to a father she has.
- Broken Ace: Peter had to go through the harrowing trek back to Earth Tony had to make in the Downer Beginning of Endgame. Top that with the knowledge that he failed to stop Thanos, his mentor/father-figure turning to dust in his arms and his last remaining blood-relative going out the same way, it takes Peter nearly a year before he could even consider going back to patrolling as Spider-Man.
- The Chessmaster: In Chapter 57, it is revealed that Doctor Strange made Thanos see Tony as a threat so that Tony would be dusted in the Blip instead of Peter, having deliberately changed the variables when none of the many, many timelines where Tony lived through the Blip seemed to go well and made it so that Peter would be the one to discover time-travel and prevent the AT!Thanos from wreaking havoc in the main timeline. He admits that it was a gamble, but it still paid off in the end.
- Chocolate Baby: Gossip columns tended to sensationalize Morgan's parentage, making various outlandish claims about who the father really was. The most common one was Rhodey, made especially egregious since he is a dark-skinned Black man and Morgan is completely white.
- Christmas Episode: Chapter 18: Lonely Holidays
- Didn't Think This Through: In Chapter 40, it is revealed that Peter's teacher Rhett Leak had drugged Peter and tried to take his glasses with the intent of gaining control of EDITH. What he did not seem to count on was the fact that EDITH would not actually listen to him, nor would he know that Peter's metabolism would keep him conscious long enough to activate a security protocol that would send a drone to incapacitate him and call for help.
- For Want Of A Nail: In canon, the Daily Bugle doesn't antagonize Spider-Man's until the end of Far From Home after the Snap was reversed. Here, the Daily Bugle starts making baseless accusations about how Spider-Man is responsible for the city's crime-rates the moment Peter gets back into the suit over a year after the Snap started.
- In Endgame, what leads to AT!Thanos gaining access to the primary timeline is when Prime!Nebula's network links with AT!Nebula after Rhodey returns to the prime timeline, knocking her unconscious, allowing them to discover their mission, gains access to the Pym particles and invading the Prime Timeline. Here it is Peter who accompanies her and her network goes off before he leaves. Not only was Peter able to get Friday to temporarily block the signal, but they hitch a ride to Earth and create a distraction so that they could break into Avengers Tower and use Stark's advanced tech to undo it, Friday ensuring that all trace of their presence goes unnoticed. It is later revealed that Doctor Strange saw this moment with the Time Stone and it was the deciding factor to make it so that Peter survived the Blip instead of Tony.
- Clint Barton died to get the soul stone instead of Natasha.
- Halloween Episode: Chapter 24: Baby's First Halloween
- History Repeats: In Chapter 29, Peter has a panic attack when someone asks him about fighting in space similar to when it happened to Tony in Iron Man 3.
- When Peter hesitates giving his speech announcing Spider-Man's retirement, Pepper correctly guesses what's going to happen, saying that he was "gonna pull a Tony."
- In Spite of a Nail: Pepper's Rescue suit still gets built. This time it was Peter who made it, deciding that she and Morgan needed some level of security when he intended to retire as Spider-Man.
- While it takes him longer, Peter manages to crack the method of time-travel just like Tony did in Endgame.
- Mythology Gag: In Chapter 43, Spider-Man is suffering from a Mushroom Samba and is scrambling to find a cure when he is given an injection of Scorpion's venom like in Spider-Man (PS4).
- New Parent Nomenclature Problem: When Pepper adopts Peter, he is upfront about how he does not intend on calling her "Mom". She respects that as long as he acknowledges that she is his guardian. Overtime however, he resorts to calling her "Mom" to make it easier on Morgan, who is an infant and only knows her as "Mom". As they grow closer, Peter starts to address Pepper as "Mom", if not as a habit.
- Our Presidents Are Different: President Personable. Apparently, Peter had established something with the current president, who hysterically called Peter asking if he was responsible for bringing back everyone that was lost in the Snap right after they reversed it and thanked him for reuniting him with his wife.
- Set Right What Once Went Wrong: Played With. While Peter fixes Nebula in the Alternate Timeline 2014, he records a video set to automatically start playing right as they begin the iconic airport fight in Civil War, where he proceeds to give away the Red Herring Zemo planned on luring Tony and Steve with and then goes onto explain Thanos's agenda before running down the list of people they would need to recruit to achieve this. While this in no way alters his own timeline, the Avengers in the alternate timeline where Nebula and Peter got the Power Stone will have enough time to prepare for his arrival.
- Small Steps Hero: Wong describes Spider-Man as this.Wong: It's true we lost half the universe. That's an indisputable fact. But there is still half a universe out there worth protecting. I do my part here, and you do yours out there. When you saved this girl, you saved this man's entire universe. What you are doing is not insignificant, it is not without meaning. It won't bring back your family or Stark, but you keep people from losing more than they already have. That's important.
- Someone to Remember Him By: It is after Thanos wins does Peter discover that Pepper is pregnant with Tony's child.
- There Are No Therapists: Averted. Pepper offers to have Peter see a therapist early on, but Peter forgoes it. It is not until Peter nearly has a panic attack while on patrol in Chapter 29 does Pepper put her foot down and starts setting up appointments.
- Wham Episode: Chapter 22, Peter, on an impulsive moment of heroism, goes back to being Spider-Man after a year going without to save the residents of a collapsing building.
- Chapter 50, Peter outs his Secret Identity to the world, intending on signing the accords and continuing his duty as Spider-Man with full-transparency.
